Posts Tagged ‘the thing from another world’

The modern horror fan is familiar with heroines such as Laurie Strode, Ellen Ripley, and the ensemble cast of THE DESCENT. But it wasn’t always such. In the 1930s women were relegated to victim roles, to be rescued by the male hero (whom they would inevitably start a relationship with). What changed this paradigm? Who were the early heroines?

Despite common assumptions to the contrary, America’s sci-fi/horror of the 1950s Boom was in fact littered with intelligent films containing thoughtful discussions of socio-political matters disguised in the veil of thrilling entertainment. Films such as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD tackled the growing paranoia of the Cold War, while THEM! dealt somberly with the significance of the splitting of the atom.